5 times Natasha trusted the team and 1 time she didn't
by SophieRomanoff
Summary: My first 5 v 1 format. 5 times Natasha trusted the team and 1 time she didn't (but she really should have) Some nice Natasha and team interaction (background Clint/Natasha relationship) and Nat learning to trust her teammates and yes, friends. Rubbish at summaries, it's cute and a little angsty you should read :)
1. Bruce

Five times Natasha trusted the team and one time she didn't (but she really should have)

1.) Bruce

Natasha had one hell of a mission and waking up the day after coming home in her own bed at Stark Tower was rather wonderful. Feeling well rested but still a little on edge from mission, she rolled her eyes at the glowing 5:30 am on her clock and pulled back the covers.

She headed down to the kitchen, somewhat surprised to find someone else awake. Bruce sat at the table, cup of something green in hand.

"Morning, Natasha." He said kindly, gesturing at the kettle. "I just filled it up if you want."

"Morning, and yeah thanks." She smiled, reaching up the top cupboard to grab her favourite morning tea. She winced slightly, rolling her shoulders and neck as she filled up her cup.

"Sore?" Bruce asked softly, looking over the rim of his glasses.

"A little." She admitted. "I was locked up for a while and the restraints were not...friendly." She shrugged, leaning against the kitchen counter.

"You know, when I wake up after being the other guy for a while, my whole body burns. My muscles scream at me." He hummed. "What do you usually do?"

"Work out, loosen my muscles then sleep." She shrugged. "Why?"

"Just trust me." He smiled, finishing his drink and standing.

"With what?" She asked warily, eyebrow raised.

"A work out is good sure, but you want gentle stretches, you don't want to risk hurting your body further."

"Alright, Doctor, what do you suggest?"

"Yoga. Honestly, it helps more than you'd think. Plus, no offence, I can see you're still a little twitchy."

Natasha's lips curled up in a smile. "Perceptive." She hummed. "Fair enough, I'll give it a go."

Bruce ducked his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay. Want to now? We've got a while before anyone else gets up."

"Sure, why not." The redhead drained the rest of her tea, placing the cup in the dishwasher and following after Bruce.

They headed down to the gym and instead of heading to the bag or elliptical machines, Natasha watched Bruce lay out two mats.

"Okay, the first thing is the easiest. Jut some stretches."

Natasha smiled and nodded.

"I can do that."

...

Almost an hour later, a relaxed Natasha rolled up her mat.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked softly.

"Surprisingly, pretty good. Not so sore and definitely not so twitchy." She smiled kindly.

"You were a natural, it took me a long time to get flexible enough to do half of those positions."

"Goes with the job." She shrugged, pushing hair off her face.

"Yeah I suppose so." He hummed.

"But honestly, I do feel better." She said softly, squeezing his shoulder. "I appreciate it, Bruce, thank you."

Bruce flushed ever so slightly, nodding.

"Any time, Natasha."

"Maybe we can make it a weekly thing?'' Natasha suggested, a little shyly.

"I'd like that."

"Okay. Thanks again." Natasha smiled.

"I meant it, Tasha, my pleasure."

/I hope this was okay! Can you tell I've never done yoga (hence the time skip). The next chapters should be up soon, so please stay tuned! Kudos and comments mean a lot, thanks and enjoy! 3


	2. Tony

Hey! Welcome to chapter two.

Tony.)

"Goddammit." Natasha growled, frustrated as she pushed her hair off her face and bent down to pick up the phone she'd just knocked onto the ground.

She examined it critically, sighing again as she tried to turn it on.

"Yeah, fucking brilliant." She muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.

It wasn't like she used the phone for much, it was an old make and held barely anything, but it was still annoying.

She'd woken up on the wrong side of bed for sure, and this was just the aggravating cherry on top of an awful day.

She knew Shield would pay for a new one, probably a really good new one, but she liked her old make. It was simple to use, easy to send messages and make calls. The camera was decent and she could still play games on it when bored. She didn't want any of the no hands, speech to text crap, call her old fashioned.

Grimacing, she shoved the useless thing in her bsck pocket and went on with her day.

...

A couple of Shield meetings later, Natasha trudged through the doors of the tower, her 'don't piss me off' look on her face.

It was supposed to be movie night and although she wasn't in the mood, it was the one night they all made sure to get together. Plus Thor was supposed to be dropping by a couple of days, and she had missed him.

"Hey Red, where've you been?" Tony, leaning against the door frame, raised his eyebrow.

"Shield, why?" She sighed, one hand on the back of her neck.

"Tried calling you, we were ordering food." He grinned. "Since you didn't answer, we just went with pizza."

"That's fine." She shrugged.

"Shield so interesting you didn't want to answer my amazingness?"

"Pretty sure that's not a word, Stark. And I wasn't ignoring you, I broke my phone." She sighed, pulling it from her pocket and showing him the shattered screen.

"It was so slow, you got annoyed and threw it?" He quipped, easy smile on his face.

"Hey, my phone was perfectly fine." Natasha defended her beloved old phone. "I don't need any of that Stark crap." She huffed.

Tony pretended to be offended. "Little red, I'm wounded." He held out his hand. "Let me play around with it, I'm sure I can fix it."

Natasha hummed and raised her eyebrow. "I don't know. Are you just gonna replace I with the Stark phone?"

"Tasha Tasha, c'mon, before I even made the Stark phones, I learned how to fix things." His hand was still held out.

"Fine." She passed the phone over. "No snooping."

"Why Natasha, am I to gather that there are naughty pictures on here?" He smirked.

"Stark!" Natasha growled, not really angry. "Just fix it."

"Yes ma'am!" Tony saluted, grinning.

Natasha rolled her eyes and stalked off to her room.

...

An hour later, in comfy clothes, feet up on Clint's lap and pizza on her lap, Natasha finally felt better.

They were bickering over what to watch when Tony swept in and placed a parcel next to Natasha, bright pink bow and all.

The redhead nodded and thanked him, grimacing at the bow.

"Do I even want to know why you have pink ribbon laying around?"

"That would be telling." Tony winked, sitting next to Bruce and snagging a pizza box.

"What is that?" Clint, ever nosey, prodded at the paper.

"Broke my phone. Tony said he'd fix it."

She shrugged, pulling the paper open. She wasn't really expecting her phone there, more like an old Stark phone or something.

"Oh." She said softly, picking up what was undeniably her phone, screen fixed.

"I did say." Tony murmured around a mouthful of pizza.

Natasha turned the phone on, finding her apps all in little folders.

"I did add more memory. Y'know, for your naughty pictures."

Natasha growled and beside Bruce, Steve choked on his food, flushing violently.

Clint perked up. "Naughty pictures?"

"Keep it in your pants, Clint." Natasha warned as she flicked through her phone.

Everything was still there, but when she opened up the gallery, there was a series of ridiculous selfies.

"You're actually a child, Stark." Natasha chuckled, smiling over at him.

"The opportunity presented itself. But I swear I didn't look at any of your pictures. But the games really, Kwazy Cupcakes?" He laughed.

"Shut up." She hissed. "It's fun!"

"Sure, little red." Tony grinned.

"I hate you."

"Nah, you really don't." He blew her a kiss and turned to the tv.

"Now, who wants to watch Mean Girls?"

/thanks for reading everyone! Kudos and comments are love and bonus points in anyone knows where I pulled Kwazy Cupcakes from❤


	3. Steve

Hey everyone! Welcome to chapter 3!

3.) Steve

Natasha was always an early riser, but she'd managed to sleep in a little later than usual which meant she'd missed yoga with Bruce.

She figured she'd go down to the gym and do a quick work out and grab some breakfast before heading to Shield for the day.

She got into her comfy workout clothes and headed down to the kitchen to fill up her water bottle, surprised to find Steve up. He was generally an early riser too, though not as early as she was.

"Morning." Steve smiled, chopping up some fruit at the counter.

"Morning." Natasha smiled politely, filling up her bottle. "Working out too?" She asked, snagging a slice of strawberry from the plate.

"Going for a run, it's a beautiful morning." He pointed out the window and Natasha saw that it was indeed a beautiful morning. It had been chilly recently and Steve didn't like running outside when it was cold.

Natasha understood that, if she was ever caught outside in a thunderstorm it sent her mind whirling down the rabbit hole.

"Nice day for a run, actually." Natasha hummed, a little wistfully, wishing she'd checked the weather before deciding on the gym.

Steve took his plate to the table and began eating, swallowing and looking up at her. "Do you wanna join me?" He asked quietly, a little uncertain.

They'd come a long way from the superheroes who had been thrown together to save the world.

They all mainly lived at the tower now, bar Thor who split his time between the tower, Asgard and Jane's. They had movie nights and pizza parties and they were good friends.

Natasha appreciated them wanting their alone time though, and Steve rarely went on his run with anyone else.

"I don't want to impose." She shrugged.

"You wouldn't be. It's a lovely morning and it'll be nicer than working out in the gym."

"Okay then." Natasha nodded, smiling and taking another piece of fruit from his plate.

When Steve had finished eating, he cleaned up a little and they headed out the doors.

The sun was shining and it was certainly warmer than it had been in a while.

Natasha had been cooped up either at Shield or in her room and being outside was a nice change.

They stretched a little, chatting warmly between themselves before starting to run.

...

An hour later, a sweaty Natasha and barely flushed Steve arrived back at the tower.

Natasha had seen Steve run but running next to him, she realised just how fast he was. It had been a welcome challenge, trying to meet his speed, and though she knew she'd never fully catch up to him, it had been fun.

Steve tossed Natasha a towel and they sat down at the kitchen table.

Steve often had two breakfasts, since he burned so many calories with his super metabolism and Natasha had only had a little fruit so when Natasha had caught her breath they started to make breakfast.

By the time the pancakes, eggs and bacon were done, the others had wandered into the kitchen.

Natasha and Steve dished out the food, and Natasha quietly bumped shoulders with him. "Thanks for the run, it was nice to get outside."

Steve beamed at her, nodding. "It was. Same time next week?" He asked softly.

Natasha grinned and nodded. "I'd like that."


	4. Thor

Welcome to chapter 4! I'm struggling atm so comments and kudos are much appreciated, please check out my other fics!

4.) Thor

It had taken two days after Thor said he'd be coming to turn up, Natasha guessed they weren't exactly versed in Earth's dates and times.

Natasha was the only one in the tower, Clint was at Shield, Tony and Bruce were off at some presentation and Steve was clearing out his Brooklyn apartment.

She was laying across the sofa, under a mountain of blankets and pumping herself full of green tea. She could feel the beginnings of a killer cold and figured that whilst she was alone, she could rest up.

When the thunder and lightning rolled across the sky, she sat up, wincing at the pain in her head.

"Great timing." She murmured, but wasn't actually annoyed. She wasn't the only one that missed Thor when he was gone for a while.

They'd been planning on taking him around New York and doing general tourist stuff but Natasha really wasn't in the mood for crowds and stares from strangers.

"Friends, I have returned!" Thor's voice boomed around the room as he entered.

"Thor!" Natasha grinned, pushing off her pile of blankets and getting to her feet.

"Lady Natasha, where is everyone?" He enveloped her in a hug that she returned.

"All out, just me at the moment." She said quietly. "Sorry."

"Tis no problem, it will be nice to spend some time with you." He smiled, sitting on the sofa. He critically examined the blankets, tissues and tea and frowned.

"Natasha, are you sick?" He asked, audibly lowering his voice.

"A little." She sighed, sitting back beside him, shivering.

Thor picked up the top blanket and draped it over her shoulders, looking concerned.

"Should I call for a doctor?"

"No, no, it's just...Midgardians get these things called colds quite often, it's really nothing." She shrugged.

"If you are unwell, I have no issue staying here with you, I've been eager to catch up on those shows you all watch."

"Actually...that would be great." She smiled, relieved.

"Then that is what we should do." He patted her shoulder. "Lay down again, if you wish."

"Ugh, I am sorry." She mumbled, a little embarrassed as she did lay down.

Thor tutted and put another blanket on top of her. "There is nothing to be sorry for. My brother was sickly when he was younger and I would often tend to him." He hummed.

"Thanks, Thor." She said softly.

"Is there anything I can get for you? I could try to make you something to eat-" he looked dubious.

"That's okay, there's some soup in the fridge I can heat it up." She mumbled, moving to push herself back up.

Thor easily held her back down.

"I can do it. Do I...make a fire?" He frowned.

Natasha chuckled. "Do you remember the microwave? We made popcorn in there last time you came."

"Aye, I can do that." He smiled, standing.

Natasha was expecting an explosion or the sound of cursing from the kitchen but instead she just heard the microwave ping and then Thor was carrying a bowl over to her.

"It may be a little too hot." He looked a little flushed.

"That's okay, I prefer it like that." She smiled. "Thank you." She murmured, taking the bowl.

As she ate, she turned the tv back on. "Any preference?"

"I did enjoy that show about funny men-guards." He hummed.

"Police men?" She asked, flicking through the channels.

"Brooklyn nine nine?" She hovered over the option.

"Ah, yes!" Thor beamed. "It was very amusing."

Natasha just smiled and turned the show on, finishing her soup.

They watched in comfortable silence for a couple of hours but as it neared the evening, Natasha could barely keep her eyes open.

She didn't feel great and suddenly closing her eyes felt like the best thing to do to avoid the swirling of the room.

...

She awoke to the sound of voices and she reluctantly surfaced her head from the blankets and peered around.

"Evening." Tony smirked.

"You feeling okay, Tasha? Thor said you were sick." Clint looked worried.

"Just a cold." She mumbled, rubbing her temples and sitting up.

"Bruce is getting you some meds." He said softly. Clint knew she hated being sick, hated the weakness she felt.

"Thanks." She mumbled, flushing a little.

"You wanna head to your room?" He asked quietly, gaze meeting hers.

"Yeah." She admitted quietly. "The room is still spinning." She groaned, heaving her aching body from the sofa.

She hadn't realised she'd been somewhat draped over Thor. She flushed harder and took a few tentative steps forward.

"Shit-" She mumbled, recognising the dark spots around her vision.

Clint was at her side immediately, arm around her waist as he lowered her to sit on the floor.

"Nat?" He asked softly, concern in his eyes.

"I'm okay. I just...don't think I'm gonna make it to my room." She sighed.

"That's okay." Clint looked up at Thor.

Clint could easily lift Natasha but Thor was hovering and looking worried.

"Thor, bud, would you be able to take Nat to her room?"

"Of course." He nodded, bending down and lifting her as if she weighed nothing.

If this had happened a couple of months ago, Natasha would have been very very embarrassed and would have insisted on walking. As it was now, she was only slightly embarrassed and didn't feel like dragging herself to her room anyway.

"Thanks Thor." She murmured, cheeks flushed as he carried her through the halls.

"My pleasure, Lady Natasha."


	5. Clint

Welcome to chapter 5!

Clint.)

"Nat, c'mon, you're amazing but you're not a robot, even you can't catch everyone." Clint bumped her shoulder as they walked into the tower.

Natasha was furious with herself. They'd been on mission and the electricity had gone, they'd had to work in the dark to fights guys who had infrared goggles.

Natasha hadn't been able to see a hit coming and had been briefly knocked out. One of the men had escaped and to Natasha, it was unacceptable.

They'd spent the night at medical, on Natasha concussion watch and it had just left her feeling even more pissed off.

"I'm trained in all situations, I should have stopped the hit and stopped him from escaping." She growled, pushing through the doors.

"Nat, they caught him at the airport and we got the rest of them." Clint sighed, shaking his head as they passed the guys. Even Tony's smirk disappeared.

"I take it we're not going to your room." He said quietly as she hit the elevator button for the gym.

"Not a damn chance." She muttered. "I got sloppy, I need to work on it until I'm better."

Clint sighed and nodded. "You're not sloppy, even you can't see in the dark, Nat."

"Then I need to use my other senses."

"Tash, c'mon, you're the best at using your senses."

They entered the gym and Clint moved to grab a towel. "Come here." He said softly.

"Why?" Natasha asked tiredly, rubbing the bruise between her brows.

"I'm going to remind you how badass you are. Trust me." He held up the towel. "I'm going to cover your eyes and you're going to fight me until I'm down."

"That's stupid." She mumbled.

"Give it a chance. Now, who's the best agent you've ever fought in hand to hand."

"Hill." She shrugged.

"Not the answer I wanted." He pouted.

"You're a very close second."

"Hmm. Well, how many times have you handed me my ass on these mats?"

Her lips pulled back in a half smile. "Many times."

"And how many times have I handed you yours?"

"Many times."

"So we're pretty evenly matched, huh? Well, times to hand me my ass blindfolded."

"Don't go easy." She mumbled, eyeing the towel. "Just to make me feel better."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Tash."

He held up the towel and she sighed, lifting her ponytail up so he could tie the towel around her eyes.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Knowing you, one." She smirked.

"Fine. Can you see me?"

"No." She sighed.

"A shame for you, I'm sure." He said dryly.

"Devastating." She quipped.

"No more talking, let's do this."

...

Maybe three minutes later, Natasha had Clint on his back.

"Ow." Clint groaned.

Natasha undid the towel and looked down at him. "That looks painful." She grinned, holding out her hand.

Clint pulled himself up, grinning too. "See? You do use your other senses, it was a one off with him getting a lucky hit in."

"Maybe." She mumbled, shrugging her shoulders.

"Nat, you're amazing." He took her hand, turning her to look at him.

"Thanks Clint." She said softly, standing on her tiptoes and kissing him.

"Hmm. You should beat me more often." Clint grinned, slowly backing her up against the wall.

Natasha laughed, tilting her head. "Kinky."

"Shh." He leaned his head down. "Trust me now?"

"Always, Clint."


	6. One time she didn't

"Agent Romanoff, come in-" Natasha could hear her handlers voice in her ear but she couldn't summon the presence of mind to answer.

She didn't often do solo missions anymore. She was usually paired with Clint for spy missions and the other Avengers for public missions.

But her new handler had sent her out to Russia, because she had the experience with it being her homeland.

After Coulson had died, she'd gone through multiple handlers, this was one was less of an idiot but Natasha was still pretty much on her own.

She'd had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so she hadn't been able to tell anyone she was leaving.

She'd woken up, watched Clint beside her for a couple of minutes, got out of bed and snuck out the tower.

She'd handed her phone in at Shield and the only communication she had was the comms in her ear.

She hadn't just disappeared for a long time and it had felt all kinds of wrong for her to leave without even a letter.

It wouldn't have been the first time she'd forgone procedure, but something had stopped her from talking to her team.

She thought she could handle it, had gone through so many solo missions and come out victorious.

But now she was sprawled across the concrete floor, blood dripping into her eyes as she looked up at the face of her former teacher.

Natasha tried to push herself up, and as she watched the foot coming down at her face, she realised she'd screwed up.

The Red Room had been her problem, had been her life and she hadn't trusted her team with the mission, because she thought it was all on her.

The foot slammed down and she saw black.

...

Natasha woke up in the dark, her ears ringing and her entire body throbbing.

She struggled to adjust to the darkness, realising as her stomach sank, that she was back in her old room.

She could only see out of one eye and as she lifted her head, she could feel the crack of dried blood coating her face.

She'd been out for a little while, but she wasn't dead, so that was a plus.

She silently moved her limbs, the rattling of chains alerting her to the fact she was chained to something.

She was a little off the floor and she swallowed, exhaling shakily.

She was chained to a bed, and knowing who was behind it, it was most likely her old bed.

"Dammit, Natasha, you should've told them." She muttered, wincing as she dropped her head.

She'd gotten caught up in the past, and had forgotten she wasn't alone anymore.

She must have lost consciousness again because the next thing she knew, the door was slamming and there was a light above her.

She cursed herself. She should've watched the door, figured out how many locks there were and gotten out of the handcuffs.

Her vision blurred and she knew she wasn't just dealing with being knocked out, she had a bad concussion.

"Natalia." The voice called and she struggled to focus.

"Dmitry." She murmured, trying to open her swollen eye. "Can't say I missed this." She pulled at the chains.

"It was necessary then, and now. I'm no idiot, Talia, you're dangerous even when half conscious."

"Come a little closer and I'll show you how dangerous." She growled.

Dmitry laughed, fingers trailing down her jaw.

She steadfastly didn't flinch, no matter how sickening the touch was as he trailed over cut up skin.

"Haven't changed, my little spitfire." Dmitry hummed, fingers curling around the base of her throat. He squeezed enough to hurt but not enough to cut off her breathing.

Natasha bared her teeth and tried to lunge up. The chains yanked at her wrists but she barely felt it.

"I am not, nor have I ever been yours." She spat.

Dmitry just laughed, reaching for something at his side.

Natasha couldn't see what he had but then something cold was pressed against her neck.

She just looked up at him, unflinching and unwavering.

He drew the knife down her neck and through the material of her infamous suit.

Natasha's nose flared but she stayed quiet, silently tugging at the handcuffs.

The bed was old and the metal frame bent just a little bit, just enough for her to reach up and slam her head into Dmitry's.

The man cursed and stumbled back, cupping his nose.

Natasha's vision swam, her face burning.

"You little bitch." He growled, moving to her in an instant, hands clamping down around her neck, harder this time.

Natasha bucked up; trying to get another hit in, but everything was darkening quickly.

One second she was gasping for air, and then a bright light and a crash crowded her senses.

When she could see again, a familiar voice was talking to her, though her ears were ringing too much for her to understand.

Someone had snapped the chains and was sitting her up, Natasha barely able to support herself.

She watched numbly as Dmitry staggered to the floor, hand at his throat.

An arrow had gone through one side of his neck and out the other.

Clint.

She slowly blinked, a little more coherent.

She dragged her gaze to whoever was holding her, more than a little surprised to find Tony.

The lights made sense now, his repulsors were still warm.

"Tony." Natasha slurred, "What?"

"You're okay." The engineer murmured the face plate of his suit up so she could see the concern in his eyes.

Everything moved slowly, like trudging through deep water.

"Nat? Natasha?" Something warm touched her cheek.

"Clint." She exhaled, blinking at the face of her best friend.

"Hey." He murmured. "Took a while there, keep looking at me." He touched his ear.

"The others have cleared the hallways, it's time to go." He nodded.

Tony slid his face plate down and stood, easily scooping up Natasha. "Time to go home, little red."

...

Natasha spent the next two days in medical, Bruce overseeing her care. Clint had gone off at Shield and refused to send her there.

As she spent her hours in bed, she slowly got the information on what had happened.

Clint had woken to Natasha gone, had waited an hour, flooded her phone with messages, and then gone to the others.

Tony had hacked into Shield and gotten her location and mission details and they'd left for Russia.

They were understandably hurt and put out that she hadn't come to them, but realised quickly that Natasha still struggled with the past and her feelings.

It wasn't that she hadn't trusted them per se, it was that she had thought she had to do it alone.

She found out that the Avengers had flooded the building, Bruce, Thor and Steve captured the other agents as Tony burst through the wall and Clint dropped from the vents.

Dmitry had shot at them, so Clint had fired an arrow. The rest Natasha had seen.

The first night had been spent setting her broken nose, ice-ing her face and keeping her awake on concussion watch.

The day after, they'd all sat down around Natasha's bed and had talked for hours.

It had been awkward, painful and emotional, but Natasha knew they had a better understanding now.

She also knew that she wasn't alone now, and solo missions just weren't her thing anymore.

Her handler had been tasked with someone else and Hill was now overseeing her missions personally.

As she looked over at the faces of her friends, at her boyfriend beside her, arm around her shoulders, she was glad things were different.

Natasha trusted the team, and they trusted her. It had taken a while, there would be miscommunication and misunderstandings but she was one of them.

The Avengers were a family, and one she wouldn't lose by not trusting them.

The Red Room had taken everything from her, had broken the trust of a child, but The Avengers had built her back up, had given her the trust she needed as an adult.

She wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
